The Báb

May the glances of Him Whom God shall make manifest
illumine this letter at the primary school.
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He is the Most Glorious.

HE is God, no God is there but Him, the Almighty, the
Best Beloved. All that are in the heavens and on the earth
and whatever lieth between them are His. Verily He is the
Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.

This is a letter from God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting,
unto God, the Almighty, the Best Beloved, to
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affirm that the Bayán and such as bear allegiance to it are
but a present from me unto Thee and to express my undoubting
faith that there is no God but Thee, that the kingdoms
of Creation and Revelation are Thine, that no one
can attain anything save by Thy power and that He Whom
Thou hast raised up is but Thy servant and Thy Testimony.
I, indeed, beg to address Him Whom God shall make
manifest, by Thy leave in these words: ‘Shouldst Thou
dismiss the entire company of the followers of the
Bayán in the Day of the Latter Resurrection by a mere
sign of Thy finger even while still a suckling babe, Thou
wouldst indeed be praised in Thy indication. And though
no doubt is there about it, do Thou grant a respite of
nineteen years as a token of Thy favour so that those who
have embraced this Cause may be graciously rewarded by
Thee. Thou art verily the Lord of grace abounding. Thou
dost indeed suffice every created thing and causest it to be
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independent of all things, while nothing in the heavens or
on the earth or that which lieth between them can ever
suffice Thee.’

In one of His Tablets ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains that some were misled by this statement and thought that the school referred to was a physical school for the training of unlettered children, whereas it referred to a spiritual school sanctified from the limits of the contingent world. Bahá’u’lláh in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas also refers to this Epistle of the Báb in the following words:

O Thou Supreme Pen! Move over the Tablet by the leave of Thy Lord, the Creator of the heavens. Call Thou then to mind the day when the Fountainhead of divine unity sought to attend the school which is sanctified of all save God, that perchance the righteous might become acquainted, to the extent of a needle’s eye, with that which is concealed behind the veil of the inner mysteries of Thy Lord, the Almighty, the All-Knowing.

Say, We, in truth, entered the school of inner meaning and exposition at a time when the minds of all that dwell on earth were wrapt in heedlessness. We beheld what the Merciful Lord had revealed, accepted the gift He [the Báb] had offered Me of the verses of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, and hearkened to that to which He had attested in the Tablet. We, verily, are the Witness. We responded to His call at Our Own behest, and We are, in truth, the Ordainer.

O people of the Bayán! We entered the School of God when ye were slumbering on your couches, and perused the Tablet when ye were fast asleep. By the righteousness of God, the True One, We had read it before it was revealed, and ye were utterly unaware. Indeed Our knowledge had encompassed the Book when ye were yet unborn.

These utterances are revealed according to your measure, not to God’s, and unto this beareth witness that which is enshrined in the knowledge of God, did ye but know. Unto this testifieth He Who is the Mouthpiece of God, could ye but understand. By the righteousness of God! Were We to lift the veil ye would swoon away. Take heed lest ye dispute with Him and His Cause. He hath indeed appeared in such wise as to encompass all things, whether of the past or of the future. Were We to speak forth at this time in the language of the dwellers of the Kingdom, We would say that God raised up this School ere the earth and the heavens were brought into being, and We entered it before the letters ‘B’ and ‘E’ were joined and knit together.